I have been asked many times, what inspired me to write Patchwork, my response as I was growing up in Zambia I had a lot of questions in my head, a lot of questions I couldn’t ask because good children didn’t get involved in adult conversation. ‘Zambia is a country that is rich in culture, what better way to preserve, document and share our culture than to write about it? Through Literature we exist.

Patchwork, Ellen Banda-Aaku (Zambia), Penguin Books, South Africa He lives in Islamabad with his wife, Helga Ahmad. He was posted as minister in Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul at a critical time, before and during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and his last assignment in the government was Chief Secretary Balochistan. He was Political Agent in Quetta, Chaghi, Khyber and Malakand and later, commissioner in Dera Ismail Khan and Swat. As a member of the Civil Service of Pakistan, he served mainly in the Frontier Province and in Balochistan. Jamil Ahmad was born in Jalandhar in 1933. The Wandering Falcon tries to offer you a glimpse into their lives, both as a collectivity and as individuals.’ Tribes have faced unremitting prosecution, hostility and injustice over centuries, while struggling with a harsh environment. He thus offered the prescription of life itself – the ability to swallow and digest bitter things. ‘A tribesman who attained the age of one hundred years was asked the secret of his longevity: ” I eat raw onions, I have eaten them every day of my life”. The Wandering Falcon, Jamil Ahmad (Pakistan), Hamish Hamilton

Patchwork by Ellen Banda-Aaku